How to Tell Which Exhaust Manifold is Leaking?

[fumetsu]

Hey folks,

I have the infamous manifold tick, and it's at a point where it's audible even after the vehicle has warmed up. I'm trying to get this rectified pretty soon. How should I try to see which side it's leaking from before I start taking things apart?

 

[n55luvr]

By ear is your only option if you can't get a visual on the manifolds. I have bad ticking coming from both sides and when it's cold I can be on either side and hear it pretty well. I can't see the cracks in either side on mine.

 

[spressomon]

Pull one spark-plug at a time?

 

[Ali FJ80]

Use a piece of pvc pipe thats atleast 2 feet long and put one end on your ear and the other end by each manifold. You will clearly hear which one is ticking as this isolates the sound you hear. Also works great for identifying which bearing or tensioner is making noise when you have a few close to each other.

 

[spressomon]

FYI/FWIW: The passenger side exhaust manifold is the easiest of the two to remove/install @ 45-minutes to remove. So if your only/last resort is to guess...start with the passenger side.

 

[PADDO]

You might be able to catch a flash of flame or abnormal heat glow in the pitch dark. Pull the plastic engine cover off, have someone fire her up and tromp on the skinny pedal whilst the engine is cold and running rich and look closely. It's worked for me before, albeit on a pre efi, pre emission, pre heat shields 308 where you could actually see stuff.

 

[fumetsu]

Thanks for the suggestions guys! That PVC pipe methods seems to have worked. I heard a consistent leaking-ish sound from the passenger side, which is a godsend considering my vehicle has AHC.

 

[plirky]

I used a shop vac and a make shift stethoscope from funnel and tubing (or piece of pipe like Ali FJ80 suggested above).
Make sure engine and exhaust are completely cold (and not running). Connect shop vac to tail pipe, turn on to create suction. Then using stethoscope, move from manifold to manifold.

Kinda like this:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Find-an-exhaust-leak-without-burning-your-hands/